Monday, October 13, 2014

(Breitbart) VATICAN CITY, Vatican-- Today, the
Vatican released the controversial compilation document that will guide
the Synod of Bishops next year. The document was put together by a
committee and was intended as a distillation of the speeches given by
Bishops and laymen last week.

At the press conference today no other section of the document
received more questions for three Cardinals and an Archbishop than the
section called “Welcoming Homosexuals.”

The section begins by asserting, “Homosexuals have gifts and
qualities to offer the Christian community; are we capable of welcoming
these people, guaranteeing them a fraternal space in our communities?
Often they wish to encounter a Church that offers them a welcoming home.
Are our communities capable of providing that, accepting and valuing
their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine of the
family and matrimony?”

The document goes on, “The question of homosexuality leads to a
serious reflection on how to elaborate realistic paths of affective
growth and human and evangelical maturity integrating the sexual
dimension…”

The opening question of the packed press conference was from noted
Rome-based journalist Sandro Magister who asked what the term “sexual
dimension” meant. He wanted to know if it referred to the orientation of
same-sex desire or sexual relations between those of the same sex.

Cardinal Peter Erdo of Hungary and who is the head communicator for
the Synod said the term came about as a result of consultation during
the previous week and then started talking about education in general.
Magister and many others in the room were left obviously confused since
Erdo didn’t’ come close to answering the question.

One questioner pointed out that this is the first time the concept of
homosexuality has occurred in a Synod document and wondered if
homosexual couples should be given a place at next year’s Synod.
Cardinal Antony Tagle of Manila, described by one seasoned Vatican
observer as friendly to liberation theology, started talking about the
“spirit of Vatican II” and “dialoging with the world.” He also did not
answer the question.

Michael Voris, from the conservative Church Militant TV in Michigan,
asked a pointed question about whether Synod fathers were proposing that
the “gifts and qualities” of homosexuals to the Church flow from their
homosexuality. Archbishop Bruno Forte from the diocese of Chieti and
Vasto in Italy joked, “It is not easy to answer such an ‘ontological
discussions’ but that we must respect the dignity of all human persons
quite separate from their sexual orientation.”

The other controversial topic that received great attention today was
on the Church’s attitude toward divorced and civilly remarried
Catholics. The Church teaches that marriage is forever and that
remarriage after divorce are not allowed unless the Church agrees that
the first marriage was invalid. The new document suggests this Church
teaching could change and allow for such persons to receive communion
after a taking a “penitential path.”

Delia Gallagher of CNN wanted to know what this “penitential path”
might be. Archbishop Forte said it would be similar to the debate in the
early Church about whether widows could remarry and that the Church
allowed after she had trod a “penitential path.” Forte did not answer
the question.

This was the feeling of many of the journalists afterwards; that the
document is not only controversial but also confusing and the press
conference did not clear up much of anything.

Respected Vatican journalist John Allen of the Boston Globe said the
document is promoting a kind of “lifestyle ecumenism” similar to the
ecumenism that grew out of the Second Vatican Council where the Church
recognized the partial truth existing in other Christian denominations
and even other religions while understanding the whole truth resides in
the Catholic Church.

In this document and in the subsequent Synod, Allen is suggesting
that the Church will maintain that a married man and women with children
is the Church teaching and the gold standard but that the Church will
recognize at least the partial the truth and goodness in other couplings
including the divorced and civilly remarried and homosexual couples.

The document presented today will inform the rest of this week’s
meetings where the bishops will divide into language groups and make
further recommendations for the whole Synod to take place next year.

“How many voices in our materialist society tell us that happiness is to be found by acquiring as many possessions and luxuries as we can? But this is to make possessions into a false god. Instead of bringing life, they bring death.”- Pope Benedict XVI

"This past Wednesday I was in part of the hospital that was devoted to people who have memory problems like my father. The people here may have no idea who I am but they light up at the sight of a collar. People who cannot carry on a conversation click “on” and join in prayer as if there were little wrong with them, their faces relaxing in this moment of peace amidst the chaos of illness."- Fr. Valencheck

"The priest's life is not his own. He does not live it for himself and his personal fulfillment, but for the salvation of souls."- Fr. Richtsteig

"I am convinced that if we simply follow the liturgical books, say the texts and carry out the gestures properly, in a style continuous with our tradition, the Church’s liturgy has power the capture minds and hearts and transform them.

I starting forming this conviction before I became a Catholic through my experience of Novus Ordo Masses done in an entirely Roman traditional style, closely following the books.

The late Msgr. Richard Schuler would eventually articulate to me in words what I was experiencing in the church. "Just do what the Council asked… do what the Church asks."

Why is worship well executed according to the mind of the Church so effective?

Christ is the true Actor in the sacred action of the Church’s worship. He makes our hands and voices His own as He raises our petitions and offerings to the Father for His glory and our salvation.

Christ’s Holy Church has determined the way by which we may have this encounter with mystery in the liturgy, be taken up in the sacred action.

Although we have the right to our Rite celebrated as the Church desires, liturgy is not about me or us or even you in the pews." - Fr. Zuhlsdorf

"After celebrating Mass facing the Lord I can report these favorable effects from the priest's point of view:

1. I don't have to worry about where to look
2. I don't have to worry about what my face looks like
3. I can weep at the beauty and wonder of it all without concern
4. I can worship more freely and fully
5. I feel more at one with the people of God
6. I am on a journey to God with the people
7. I am not the focus of attention
8. The elevation of the host and the Ecce Agnus Dei have become more of a focus
9. I feel more part of the great tradition
10. I can't see who's not paying attention and feel I have to do something to get their attention back." - Fr. Longenecker

"My rector in Denver, when he was a young priest, was eating dinner at his secretary's house, a widow from Sicily. Thinking he was polite he said, 'If you wish you can call me Michael.' She stopped, put her hand on her hip, and, pointing at him with her wooden spoon, said, 'Don't think I call you Father because I think you're better than me! I call you Father to remind you who you're supposed to be and how you're going to be judged by our Lord!' He passes that lesson on to all his seminarians."- Fr. Andrew

Decalogue Against Temptation

1. Do not forget that the devil exists.
2. Do not forget that the devil is a tempter.
3. Do not forget that the devil is very intelligent and astute.
4. Be vigilant concerning your eyes and heart. Be strong in spirit and virtue.
5. Believe firmly in the victory of Christ over the tempter.
6. Remember that Christ makes you a participant in His victory.
7. Listen carefully to the word of God.
8. Be humble and love mortification.
9. Pray without flagging.
10. Love the Lord your God and offer worship to Him only.